Prius Gen3 P0A80 can I continue to drive on gas endlessly?

unfortunately, the hybrid battery turns over the engine to start it. at some point, you will have to repair/replace

 

And you would have hardly any acceleration since the electric motors provide the torque necessary when speeding up and going up hill.

 

The P0A80 code allows the car to continue to drive normally. Once the car decides which of the individual modules is failing, it will provide an additional code, and will put the car into limp mode. People have continued driving for many months merely by resetting the code as needed. The code may clear short term, but the problem doesn't go away and will continue to get worse until the time comes that it can't be reset.

 

not in a prius. the 12v only boots up the computers and closes relays to make the car 'ready'. the eCVT is connected to the engine and the hybrid battery powers the electric propulsion motors to spin the engine countless times as you're driving.

 

Huh? As far as the context of starting the engine while the car is parked, that happens when the hybrid battery powers one of the two electric motors to crank the engine. (Starting the engine while the car is rolling with engine stopped is a little more complicated.)

 

exactly

 

Explanation without the white lab coat with protective googles on...the hybrid battery starts the gas engine. Once the hybrid battery is dead, you will no longer be able to start the car.

 

When you try merge on to highways and slam the accelerator, you’ll be smooth sailing at 25 mph and no faster. At least you’ll be saving a lot of gas.

 

If you’re keeping the car-I just replaced the NiMH battery with the Li ion from NeoPower. Way cheaper than the Toyota NiMH and comes with a 2 year warranty. Better acceleration and better fuel mileage simple installation and half the weight. I’m only suggesting this because driving on the engine only seems like a bad idea.

 

eventually your bad modules will have a thermal event. maybe just a simple melt, or a little fire, or maybe an explosion. keep us posted

 

Limp mode happens when a fault (like overheating due to unbalanced modules) causes the car to give up on the main traction battery. When this happens the gas engine revs constantly to generate the electrical power that otherwise would be coming from the battery. It's like the little donut spare tire, good enough to get the car in to be serviced, but not intended for normal driving.

 

The guy is in Israel and wants to keep going at a low cost for a year or two. While replacing cells or a putting in a "reconditioned" battery is not ideal, in this case it might be the best choice.